T

he Riau administration has extended its haze emergency status due to deteriorating air quality in the province while the air quality in West Sumatra has again reached dangerous levels.

The Global Atmosphere Watch (GAW) station in Kototabang, Agam regency recorded on Tuesday that the air quality touched the '€œdangerous'€ level in almost all areas in West Sumatra with the particulate matter (PM10) at 519 per cubic meter (µg/m³).

'€œIt'€™s caused by hotspots, which are still found in many areas in the southern part of Sumatra, and the movement of the air. We think that it will still occur in the next two days,'€ the station'€™s researcher Alberth Nahas told The Jakarta Post.

According to the government'€™s existing guidelines, air quality is considered '€œhealthy'€ if its PM10 level stands at below 50 µg/m³, '€œmoderate'€ when the level stands between 50 and 150 µg/m³, '€œunhealthy'€ between 150 and 350 µg/m³, '€œvery unhealthy'€ between 350 and 420 µg/m³ and '€œdangerous'€ when it surpasses 420 µg/m³.

Because of worsening air quality, several schools in Bukittinggi sent their students home early on Tuesday.

Separately, Riau Governor Arsyadjuliandi '€œAndi'€ Rachman issued a decree to extend the haze emergency status for the next two weeks due to the poor air quality.

'€œThe decision was made after a plenary meeting with relevant parties. It has been made because the air quality is still at unhealthy and dangerous levels,'€ Andi told reporters on Tuesday.

The province first declared a two-week haze emergency status from Sept. 28 until Oct. 12 and it extended the status for another week until Oct. 19.

The governor called on all stakeholders in the province to consider the extension of the emergency status for their current programs, such as deciding on school holidays.

'€œThe free medication should also be continued,'€ he said.

According to the latest data from the province'€™s health agency, which was collected from 12 cities and regencies, the number of residents suffering haze-related diseases reached 77,665 people by last month.

Among the patients, 65,232 residents suffered acute respiratory infections (ISPA), 3,002 residents had asthma, 3,622 residents suffered eye irritations and 4,744 skin irritations.

'€œIn all regencies, the number of residents suffering from ISPA amounted to more than 1,000 people,'€ Riau Health Agency head Andra Sjafril said.

According to data from the Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysics Agency (BMKG), 30 hot spots were detected in six regencies in Riau, including 10 in Meranti, six in Indragiri Hilir, four in Pelalawan and three in Indragiri Hulu.

'€œTwenty one of the hot spots are fires with a reliability level of 70 percent, including those in Meranti, Indragiri Hilir, Indragiri Hulu and Pelalawan regencies,'€ Pekanbaru BMKG data division head Slamet Riyadi said.

Meanwhile, the thick haze was still blanketing cities and regencies, including Pekanbaru, Kampar, Siak, Rokan Hilir and Bengkalis.

'€œVisibility in the cities and regencies varies between 400 meters to 800 meters,'€ Riyadi added.

Separately, Indonesia Disaster Mitigation Experts Association (IABI) chairman Sudibyakto said that government institutions'€™ lack of coordination allowed the crisis to continuously occur.

'€œThe weakness in coordination and overlapping authority, has caused people to continue to suffer. This time is the biggest disaster of the last two decades,'€ Sudibyakto said in Yogyakarta on Tuesday.

He suggested that Indonesia needed to establish a super-body tasked with overcoming the land and forest fires, including regulatory and law enforcement aspects.

'€” Slamet Susanto also contributed to the story from Yogyakarta